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finding CPU utilization is one of the important tasks in systems administration. There are built-in and 3rd party tools that you can use to perform this task.

1. top – displays Linux tasks
this is the most common command used in getting CPU usage

#top

"the old good 'top' command"

2. mpstat – display CPU individually and processors related stats.
In order to use this, package “sysstat” should be installed. you can use apt-get (debian-based) or yum (red-hat based) command to install it via internet

#yum install sysstat

#mpstat

#mpstat -P ALL

mpstat in action

3. sar – Collect, report, or save system activity information.

#sar -u 3 7

sar in 3 secs interval & 7 times

4. ps – report a snapshot of the current processes.

#ps -eo pcpu,pid,user,args | sort -k 1 -r | head -20

who's eating ur cpu?

5. iostat – Report  Central  Processing  Unit  (CPU)  statistics and
input/output  statistics  for  devices,  partitions   and   network
filesystems (NFS).

#iostat
#iostat -xtc 5 3

iostat output every 5 secs

happy checking 🙂

… continue reading this entry.

Setting up mysql password is one of the essential task in systems administration

* mysql rulez!

Note: Linux/Unix login root account for your operating system and MySQL root are different

You can use the built-in “mysqladmin” command to change MySQL root password. It can be executed anywhere as long the binary path is set on your Linux or Windows environment

Condition 1: If you have never set a root password for MySQL, the server does not require a password at all for connecting as root. To setup root password for first time, use mysqladmin command at shell prompt as follows:

$ mysqladmin -u root password NEWPASSWORD

Condition2 : However, if you want to change (or update) a root password, then you need to use following command

$ mysqladmin -u root -p’oldpassword’ password newpass

For example, If old password is xyz, and set new password to 654321, enter:

$ mysqladmin -u root -p’xyz’ password ‘654321’

Condition 3: Change MySQL password for other user

To change a normal user password you need to type (let us assume you would like to change password for darwin):

$ mysqladmin -u darwin -p oldpassword password newpass

Condition 4: Changing MySQL root user password using MySQL sql command

This is another method. MySQL stores username and passwords in user table inside MySQL database. You can directly update password using the following method to update or change password for user vivek:

1) Login to mysql server, type following command at shell prompt:

$ mysql -u root -p

2) Use mysql database (type command at mysql> prompt):

mysql> use mysql;

3) Change password for user darwin:

mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD(“NEWPASSWORD”) where User=’darwin’;

4) Reload privileges:

mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> quit

Condition 5: Recover MySQL root password

You can recover MySQL database server password with following five easy steps.

Step # 1: Stop the MySQL server process.
Step # 2: Start the MySQL (mysqld) server/daemon process with the –skip-grant-tables option so that it will not prompt for password
Step # 3: Connect to mysql server as the root user
Step # 4: Setup new root password
Step # 5: Exit and restart MySQL server

Here are commands you need to type for each step (login as the root user):

Step # 1 : Stop mysql service

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop

Output:

Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld.

Step # 2: Start to MySQL server w/o password:

# mysqld_safe –skip-grant-tables &
Output:

[1] 5988
Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
mysqld_safe[6025]: started

Step # 3: Connect to mysql server using mysql client:

# mysql -u root

Output:

Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 1 to server version: 4.1.15-Debian_1-log

Type ‘help;’ or ‘\h’ for help. Type ‘\c’ to clear the buffer.

mysql>

Step # 4: Setup new MySQL root user password

mysql> use mysql;
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD(“NEW-ROOT-PASSWORD”) where User=’root’;
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> quit

Step # 5: Stop MySQL Server:

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
Output:

Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld
STOPPING server from pid file /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
mysqld_safe[6186]: ended

[1]+ Done mysqld_safe –skip-grant-tables

Step # 6: Start MySQL server and test it

# /etc/init.d/mysql start
# mysql -u root -p

* image above is copyrighted by MySQL AB /Sun Microsystems

A. Checking if Perl Module is Installed

This is important on checking if a given perl module is already installed or not.

Code:

#perl -MModule::Name -e 1

example:
#

if present, no errors appeared:
[root@darwin ~]# perl -MNet::SNMP -e 1

without:

[root@darwin ~]# perl -MNet::Telnet -e 1

Can’t locate Net/Telnet.pm in @INC (@INC contains: /usr/lib/perl5/5.10.0/i386-linux-thread-multi /usr/lib/perl5/5.10.0 /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.10.0/i386-linux-thread-multi /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.10.0 /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.10.0/i386-linux-thread-multi /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.10.0 /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.10.0/i386-linux-thread-multi /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.10.0 /usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl .).
BEGIN failed–compilation aborted.

B. Check if the documentation of a perl module is installed.
Code:
perldoc Module::Name
e.g.

# perldoc Net::SNMP

Net::SNMP(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Net::SNMP(3)
NAME
Net::SNMP – Object oriented interface to SNMP

without:

[root@darwin ~]# perldoc Net::Telnet

No documentation found for “Net::Telnet”.

INSTALLING PERL MODULES

1. via CPAN

(+) Open CPAN shell:

# perl -MCPAN -e shell

(+) To reconfigure the shell if needed.

cpan>o conf init

(+) Install an available module.

cpan> install Module::Name

# Force install if test fails.

cpan> force install Module::Name

2. Manual
Search and download the file in http://search.cpan.org
e.g. Time::HiRes

searching in cpan

#wget http://search.cpan.org/CPAN/authors/id/J/JH/JHI/Time-HiRes-1.9719.tar.gz
#tar zxvf Time-HiRes-1.9719.tar.gz
# perl Makefile.PL
# make
# make test
# make install

The VSFTPD (Very Secure FTP Server Deamon) is one of the most commonly used FTP servers under Linux and comes with most Linux distributions.

This article will help you install and configure vsftpd in Linux. (sample OS used is a Red-hat based distribution)

GOALS:

* to create a secure ftp server
* to create an ftp user chrooted or jailed in a certain directory (sample use is an apache directory wherein you can limit users or your developers to just upload to a restricted folder)

procedures and actual simulation as follows:

A. INSTALLATION

#yum install vsftpd

Loaded plugins: refresh-packagekit
updates                                                  | 3.4 kB     00:00
updates/primary_db                                       | 4.0 MB     00:10
fedora                                                   | 2.8 kB     00:00
Setting up Install Process
Parsing package install arguments
Resolving Dependencies
–> Running transaction check
—> Package vsftpd.i386 0:2.0.7-2.fc10 set to be updated
updates/filelists_db                                                                                   | 7.3 MB     00:18
fedora/filelists_db                                                                                    |  11 MB     00:24
–> Finished Dependency Resolution
Dependencies Resolved
======================================================================================================
Package                     Arch                      Version                             Repository                    Size
======================================================================================================
Installing:
vsftpd                      i386                      2.0.7-2.fc10                        updates                      145 k

Transaction Summary
======================================================================================================
Install      1 Package(s)
Update       0 Package(s)
Remove       0 Package(s)

Total download size: 145 k
Is this ok [y/N]:y

Downloading Packages:
vsftpd-2.0.7-2.fc10.i386.rpm                                                                              | 145 kB     00:00
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
Installing     : vsftpd                                                                                                    1/1
Installed:
vsftpd.i386 0:2.0.7-2.fc10
Complete!

B. Edit configuration file (self-explanatory)

# vi /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf

Here’s the important line that you need to modify:

# Turn off anonymous users
anonymous_enable=NO

# Turn on local users
local_enable=YES

# Users should be able to write
write_enable=YES

# chroot everyone
chroot_local_user=YES

#create userlist
userlist_file=/etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.userlist

C.  Create ftp acct (example create ftp user darwin)

# useradd -d /home/Sites/ -s /sbin/nologin darwin
# passwd darwin

D.    Add it on the vsftpd service userlist

# vi /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.userlist

Add the ftp name pmorris, This will be the output once included:

# cat /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.userlist
darwin

E. Add an FTP group e.g. ftpusers

#groupadd ftpusers

Example directory where we will jail the ftp users: /home/Sites

F. Change the ownership of the directory. e.g. root: ftpusers

/home/Sites folder ownership is currently set to root:ftpusers with permission 775 (meaning all FTP users should be in the GROUP “ftpusers”, and it has a GROUP read-write-execute) permission
drwxrwxr-x 13 root      ftpusers   4096 Jan 28 15:23 Sites

G. Add the ftpuser in the ftpusers group

#vi /etc/group

This will be the output once included:
ftpusers:x:502:darwin

Alternatively: you can use the command

#usermod -G ftpusers darwin

Testing:
Using your favorite FTP client such as FileZilla FTP or via CLI , you can test the functionality by uploading, deleting or creating folders on it.

————————————————————————————————————————
[root@darwin ~]# ftp ip.of.the.server
Connected to ip.of.the.server (ip.of.the.server).
220 (vsFTPd 2.0.5)
Name (ip.of.the.server:root): darwin
331 Please specify the password.
Password:
230 Login successful.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> bin
200 Switching to Binary mode.
ftp> bye
221 Goodbye.

There are lots of operating system virtualization, you have the option to use an open source or a proprietary software depending on your needs,familiarization and most significantly, budget. People have several reasons why they use virtualization, and the most common is for testing purposes wherein they can test different configurations from different OS. Another reason is to security and consolidation, where they can save money and electricity.

Some of the popular open source linux virtualization softwares are OpenVZ, Xen, KVM and VirtualBox. You can also try proprietary softwares such as VMWare and Citrix XenServer, a commercial implementation of Xen.

For this tutorial, I’ll be covering Qemu, another virtualization program and here are the steps:

Prerequisites and componets:

a. windows installation in ISO format  ex. WinXP ( you can create ISO format using 3rd party programs like magic ISO, power ISO etc.)

b.process emulator (QEMU)

c. any Linux distribution (I’ll be using CentOS 5 for this demonstration)

d. Linux/Unix administration skills

A. Installing qemu

# yum install qemu

# qemu-img create winxp.img 4G

C. install the windows

#qemu -hda winxp.img -cdrom win.iso -m 256 -boot d

B. Create windows image by creating a virtual drive ( sample demo is creation of 4 GB virtual drive named winxp.img)

this will tell qemu to use the virtual disk as the hard disk, which drive to use as the cdrom  and to allocate 256 memory for the virtual pc
Qemu will boot up and you will be in windows install (line the normal windows installation)

Tips: CTRL+ALT= when you need your mouse
ALT+CTRL+F = toggle fullscreen

This is a sample screenshot:

qemu

After finished the windows installation, you can just close the Qemu Window

D. Testing the newly installed windows under Linux

#qemu -hda winxp.img -m 256 -boot c

NOTE: This procedure is being done in your Linux X environment e.g. GNOME , KDE etc.

CHALLENGE: How to emulate Windows in Linux OS when you only have ssh access to the remote server, no X or GUI?

SOLUTION: Create a windows image in your local test machine then upload the image file.
Tip: Since an image file will be 4GB in size, you can split the file into several pieces via your favorite archiver. I used Winrar for this one, then upload those files in queue ( Bandwidth matters)

* Since image is already uploaded on the server, the only thing to do is to emulate and redir port 3389 for RDP purposes.

sample:

# qemu -hda /home/test/winxp.img -m 2000 -boot c -redir tcp:3389::3389 -nographic

You can now access your windows via RDP… Start> Run..> mstsc

then input the server IP address

enjoy! 🙂